Dhaka (AsiaNews) – The drinking water crisis deepened in the remote areas hit by cyclone Sidr, as rescuers in the south-west coast continued to recover dead bodies yesterday.  The UN puts the latest official death toll at 3,500 people, while the government has reported  at least 1,724 still missing.  The enormity of  the economic damage is beginning to take shape while India and Pakistan have joined governments sending aid to the country.

Local paper The Daily Star writes that several sandbar islands along the coast are without drinking water.  The islands of Patuakhali Golachipa and Baufal have acute water shortages, as reports of diarrhoea are rolling in from the remote areas, with over a dozen in Patuakhali's Char Hair alone.

Government sources say relief materials are not being delivered as the worst affected have not yet been fully identified.

Relief operations meanwhile are in full swing in attempts to reach isolated areas.  Dhaka has fielded the army, while Pakistan and India are shipping emergency relief: food, medicine and temporary hospitals. The World Bank yesterday promised 250 million dollars. Caritas International is was among the first relief agencies to mobilise its network, so far it has reached over 23 thousand families; soon other forms of aid will arrive such as tents, blankets and coking utensils.  The Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions is working alongside Caritas and have a launched donations campaign.

Despite the fact that the cyclone hit the south of the country, the national economy has been heavily affected and experts are urging the government to review the 2008 budget to allow more funding for the disaster.  Over half a million households have been ruined, crops on 16.1 hectares of agricultural land worth tens of crores, and over 8,000 educational institutions fully destroyed. Sources from the Ministry for Finance speak of “immense economic losses”, adding to the already grave damage of the summer floods and the hike in International fuel costs.  A massive challenge for the Minister for Finance Mirza Azizul Islam who had projected a new year with ambitious projects: an annual growth of 7 per cent of the GDP  and keeping inflation below 1 per cent.